Follow Your Bliss

Joseph Campbell 1904 - 1987

Joseph Campbell was a teacher and religious philosopher who spent his life inspiring students to trust in themselves, and to look inwards to find their own path through life. Campbell, it so happens, also learned firsthand the importance of listening to one's inner voice. Having started out as a literary scholar of James Joyce (Finnegan's Wake specifically), Campbell became "sidetracked" relatively early in his career by his growing interest in religious mythology. As he began to devote more and more of his scholarship to the topic of myth, he revealed an uncanny ability to see the commonalities that exist between religions (across cultures and times). It wasn't long before his books on the subject of myth were capturing the imagination of a lot of people. And no wonder. They read more like modern-day translations of ancient religious truth than academic studies. Maybe even more important than his relevance as a thinker, however, was Campbell's impact as a teacher. In following his own passion in life, Campbell developed an enthusiasm for his subject that was contagious and inspiring to his students. He was a living example of his own advice..."follow your bliss."

So, here's my tribute to Joseph Campbell. He is an important figure in my life not only as a model of adult development, but also for his inclusive and practical perspective on religion. His framing of religion as metaphor, rather than historical fact, has been particularly helpful to me in opening my mind up to religion. So, in anticipation of some of my upcoming posts on my personal mythology, here are some quotes and video clips from Joseph Campbell. Also note that I've included a long description by Campbell of his childhood home in Pike County, Pennsylvania...Yes, the very same Pike County, Pennsylvania where I myself grew up. Before I read this passage this morning, I had absolutely no idea that we had grown up just miles apart (albeit with 70 years between). So yeah, I had to include that one because it made me a little giddy. And it was cool to learn that we had very similar experiences growing up in this very isolated, but very beautiful, part of the world.  

                                                 "Follow your bliss and the universe
                                                 will open doors for you where there
                                                 were only walls."
                                                 -Joseph Campbell




"Every religion is true one way or another. It is
true when understood metaphorically. But when
it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting
them as facts, then you are in trouble."

             “God is a metaphor for that which transcends
             all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple
             as that.”




                              "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are."




"Well, my parents found a lovely place in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania along about 1917, and right nearby was a man whose books about Indians I had been reading. And so he became my first guru, or teacher. His name was Elmer Gregor and he wrote books about American Indians. he had been out in the Indian country. In those days - this is 1912, '13, '14, '15 - the Indian wars were still going on, and "the only good Indian was a dead Indian" and all of that. So there were Indians in the wind, even though we were in the East. And so this beautiful place became my real discovery of nature. My emphasis on biology and nature and the body in my writing about myth comes out of those years. It is really a combination that comes from this man, who was a naturalist as well as an Indian scholar. He put me right on the road."